Updating floors on a budget is not easy! When our old master bathroom sink started leaking, and we knew the vanity needed to be replaced, we realized the old linoleum had been laid right to the edge of the old vanity. When we got the new vanity, it did not have the same footprint and then we discovered two layers of linoleum had been laid right up to the edge of the old vanity. We didn’t have the budget to replace the flooring, we barely had the budget to replace the vanity…. so I was inspired to begin painting linoleum floors to look like tile! Cement Tile!
There are several tutorials out there about how to paint linoleum floors that served as my direction and inspiration. I really wanted the floors to look like they were handmade cement tiles with two colors. Cement tiles are such a beautiful trend right now, but they cost an arm and a leg!
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Planning
So, the first task is to find a stencil that looks like cement tile, is the right size AND speaks to me. How hard can that be? Not too hard, actually! I found this amazing website called 
Cutting Edge Stencils that has an incredible selection of products, lots of pictures of how they have used the stencils and some tutorials. Santa Ana is the tile stencil I fell in love with and was able to choose the perfect size for the fake tiles that my linoleum has. The stencil pattern needed to be large and cover about 2 ‘fake’ tiles wide and tall. Each ‘fake’ tile was 6 inches, so I bought the Santa Ana tile stencil in a 12 inch by 12 inch size. Perfect-o. See the picture to the right of my original linoleum? Cool, huh? Please ignore the fabulous wallpaper (the next thing to go).
The Steps
Ok, tile pattern – √. Correct stencil size -√. Now…what colors should I use? How to I prepare the floor to ensure the maximum strength for my family’s wear and tear on a bathroom? This took some time and lots of reading. I finally settled on this process: clean and degrease the current linoleum floors. Take a fairly large grit sandpaper and rough up the current linoleum. This does not mean to sand the floor. It really means to rough it up so that there is really good adhesion of the paint. Next, paint a base coat of paint that has primer in it – three times. Then stencil. Finally, cover with some polyurethane finish – three times. Allow ample drying time in between each step.
What I Used
Starting with the floor cleaning, I found this Mean Green Super Strength Cleaner and Degreaser and thought it looked tough enough to do the job. Let me tell you, I thought I 
had clean floors but I was completely amazed (and a little bit disgusted) at how much crud this stuff took off the linoleum. Follow the directions and you shall see what years of dirt you can lift off! Next, my husband roughed up the floor with a little bit of sand paper. Then, we vacuumed and wiped it all down again (with water this time). We also taped off any part of the wall that went straight to the floor-like where the tiles meet the floor. The places where the baseboard would cover the wall, we didn’t bother to tape. But we DID remove the baseboards. We also removed our toilet, but you don’t need to. We had some other patch work to do around ours.
Now it is getting real. Time to paint! So, this might be where I got cheap. Ok, it is. We had some white paint and primer left over from another project in this old house, so I didn’t even go out and buy any new paint/primer for this project. It feels good to not spend the money and to use something we already have and that we KNEW was not going to be used. So, we painted three coats of the white paint and primer combination with at least 6 hours drying time in between each coat of paint. I purchased the paint/primer at Lowe’s and it is a Valspar brand.
At this point, the whole look of the bathroom has changed! WOW! I can feel progress! It is hard to wait for the paint to dry so that you can get started stenciling!! It is such a beautiful blank slate.
Stenciling
Purchasing two of the same stencil helps the speed of the stenciling. Plan out what you want the entry way to look like, and build from there. For instance, I wanted my doorway to have two full stencil patterns on it. So, I need to start there. At the other end of the bathroom, which happens to be the door to my closet, I don’t care so much if the pattern is half a stencil. Does that make sense? Plan out your stencil grid.
You really cannot stencil two squares next to each other because one will be wet. So, while you are working on the stenciling, take a look at the next location you 
can move your stencil to, that won’t be touching an area that you just finished. The paint I chose to use is chalk paint from Deco Art, and I got mine from Hobby Lobby. I LOVE the colors I chose because it goes with my color scheme (Colonial and Yesteryear), and it looks to me like real cement tile colors to me.
Get To Work!
Time to do paint the linoleum! I’ll be honest, this takes patience and time. Go slow, do not hurry. You will enjoy the results soon enough, I 
promise! I stenciled all the ‘full size’ sections that I could first. Tape the stencil down with painters tape and follow the guides on the stencil to make sure everything lines up! When that was all done, I cut one of my stencils in half to make it easier to get to the edges of my room. Then, I finished painting the linoleum at the edges. I left it to dry for 24 full hours after that. You are getting close! Almost done! Apply three coats of the Polyurethane of your choice, following the directions on the packaging for drying time. I used Polycrylic in satin finish and I LOVE how it turned out. The finish has a slight shine, it is beautiful.
This is a fun project that won’t break the bank and changes the whole feel of a bathroom! I hope you give it a try. Leave a comment below and let me know!
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